Strategies for a More Pleasant Online Space: Escaping Irksome FB Ads

If you use your Facebook account frequently, there’s a good chance that you might encounter annoying ads on several occasions. It could be about that overpriced vacuum cleaner on Amazon or an ad that offends your cultural or religious beliefs.

Whichever type of ad it is, you don’t have to see ads you’re not comfortable with. If you’ve been trying to get rid of annoying ads, we’ve put together three easy ways to control the kind of ads you see on Facebook.

Why Are You Seeing the Ads You’re Seeing on Facebook?

A lot of things influence the kind of ads you see on Facebook .

One of the most impacting factors is what you do on the platform. So, if for instance, you like and comment on a lot of sports videos on Facebook, you could see a lot of ads about sports gadgets or sporting events.

In essence, Facebook uses your activity on the platform to decide what kind of ads to serve you.

Facebook also uses data it collects from third parties to decide which ads to show you. If for example, Facebook has a data sharing agreement with Amazon, Facebook could use the data it gets from Amazon to decide what ads to show you.

So if you try to buy a product from Amazon but don’t go through with the purchase, Facebook could show you ads for that product repeatedly until you make a purchase. These methods are all examples of targeted ads techniques which is very bad for your privacy .

Very complex algorithms are responsible for making these decisions. Sometimes, these algorithms make wrong judgments and end up showing you ads that you find uncomfortable.

3 Ways to Control the Kind of Ads Facebook Shows You

Below are three easy ways to control the ads you see on Facebook:

1. Change Your Ads Preferences

This is the most straightforward way to ensure you don’t see certain ads on Facebook again. To change your ad preferences:

1. On the Facebook mobile app, tap the three horizontal bar menu icon in the top right corner of your app screen.
2. Scroll down and tapSettings > Ad preferences .
3. On the Ads preferences page, you’ll find a list of advertisers you’ve seen most recently. Click on theHide Ads button beside the advertiser whose ads you wish to stop seeing.

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To widen the list of the kind of ads you don’t want to see:

1. Tap on the button labeledAd topics on the top of the Ad preferences page.
2. On the Ads topics page, tap onSee More to see a full list of ad topics that Facebook thinks you might be interested in.
3. Tap on any of the ad topics you wish to see less of and then tapSee less .

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You can also type an ad topic on the search bar at the top of the Ad topics page to locate a topic you have trouble locating. For instance, if you wish to see fewer combat sports ads, you can simply search “combat sports” from the search bar and then tap through and selectSee less .

2. Turn Off Ads Recommendations From Off-Facebook Activities

Facebook will ultimately use the data it collects about you from other third parties to try to predict what ads you’ll want to see. As a result, ads you don’t want to see may still find their way to your timeline. To stop Facebook from showing you ads based on your data it gets from third parties:

1. On the Facebook app, tap the menu icon in the top right corner of your screen.
2. Under theSettings and privacy section , tapSettings > Ad preferences .
3. TapAd settings > Data about your activity from partners
4. Toggle off the switch labeledAllowed to stop Facebook from using the data it gets from third parties to serve you ads.

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3. Hide Ads on Sight

Changing your ad preferences is technically not a fool-proof solution to controlling the kind of ads you see on Facebook. Sometimes, some ads that are related to topics you choose not to see may come up on your timeline.

For this kind of ad, simply tap the three-dot icon in the top right corner of the ad item and then tapHide ads . This should keep that particular ad away from your timeline.

The Kind of Ads You See on Facebook Is a Choice

While a lot of us would love to completely cut ads out of our Facebook experience, there’s no way to completely stop ads on the platform. Advert revenue is how Facebook makes the bulk of its income, so it puts a lot of effort into ensuring you see a lot of ads.

While you can’t stop ads altogether, you can ensure that the ads you see are meaningful and comfortable to you, as explained above.